A Fairy tail Christmas
by CrystalLevy
Summary: Its a week before Christmas and Fairy tail are getting ready. A strange girl enters the guild, who is she? How does she know Laxus and will Santa bring Natsu what he wants for Christmas? Ok this is my 1st fanfic so please let me know what you think. Thanks X3 X CL.
1. Chapter 1 Christmas Spirit

**A Fairytail Christmas**

Chapter 1

It was a week before Christmas and the city of Magnolia was covered in a sheet of snow. It was approaching evening but Romeo and Wendy were helping Asuka to make the biggest snowman they could, under the watchful eyes of Charles and Bisca.

"I don't see why you didn't just ask Gray to make one for you it would be quicker and you wouldn't be at risk of getting a cold!" Charles mumbled.

"Don't be daft Charles" Laughed Bisca, "What would be the point in that? Besides, Gray uses ICE magic and last time I checked snowmen were made of snow! Anyway the kids are having fun let them be."

Charles conceded "Yes I suppose you are right." She sighed.

Inside the guild it was bustling with excitement, nearly everyone was busy with something. Last minute present buyers were now thinking of what to get their loved ones. Mira, Lisanna and Elfman were huddled around the bar making a to do list in preparation for the Christmas feast. Levy had even managed to rope Gajeel into helping with decorating the guildhall as well as Lily, Jet and Droy.

Gajeel grunted while he passed Levy another sparkly Christmas decoration. "I don't get it. What's the point?"

"Don't be such a grump!" Chirped Levy from up the ladder. "Don't forget to be nice or Santa wont bring you any presents!" She sang. Gajeel rolled his eyes. Levy paused and turned to Gajeel, cocking her head slightly to one side. "So what do you want for Christmas? I mean you've got to want something other than scrap iron , surely?" She asked as she climbed down the ladder.

Overhearing the conversation Lily flew over to them floating just behind Levy's head so only Gajeel could see him. "Yes Gajeel what DO you want for Christmas?" Lily asked. Gajeel looked up and and was torn between running so that Levy couldn't see him or killing Lily who was holding some mistletoe just over Levy's head.

"I, er, I'm going for a walk" and with that he stormed off.

"I wonder what that was about?" Levy said to herself, as Lily couldn't hear her over his laughter.

Back at the bar the Strauss siblings had almost finished their to do list. Cana, who was on the third barrel of sake called over. "I hope you ordered enough AHH!" Cana was lifted into the air from behind. "Oh Cana sweet daughter of mine this will be our first of many Christmases of being father and daughter! I can't wait to see your face when you open your presents on Christmas day! Daddy's really gone all out this year!" Gildarts swooned. "Yeah…. Great" replied an unimpressed Cana.

Lucy sat at a table watching everyone. She had never experienced a Fairy tail Christmas and she was getting excited. It was experiencing all the awe from childhood Christmases all over again. "I love Christmas!" She exclaimed "don't you?" She glanced across the table at Natsu who was franticly writing something. "Yeah! Christmas is awesome!"

"Natsu?"

"Yeah Luce?"

"What are you doing?"

"He's writing his Christmas list" Said Gray approaching the table

"What like to Santa?" Lucy said stifling a giggle. Natsu stopped and looked up at Lucy.

"Well yeah! Who else do you write to at Christmas?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Lucy, not sure where to put herself. "Well I guess it makes sense, like writing to the Easter bunny at Easter?" She half smiled. Natsu burst out laughing, fell off his seat and ended up rolling on the floor. Confused Lucy looked at Gray who just shrugged his shoulders. Finally Natsu caught his breath. "Wow Lucy you are weird! Anyway I've got to go post my Christmas list to Santa!" "Aye sir!" Agreed Happy, with his list( which probably went something like; fish, fish, fish and fish please.) Then the pair took off almost colliding with Gajeel coming back in. Luckily both the dragon slayers were too preoccupied to fight each other.

"Gray-sama is on Juvia's Christmas list . Juvia has been good this year…" Juvia said to herself whilst on her daily stalk.

Lucy carried on people watching around the guild, Laxus and the Raijinshu were sat in a corner and the Raijinshu were also discussing Christmas.

"Me and my babies are going to have such a good time!" Exclaimed Bickslow unable to keep still.

"You always start acting childish this time of year." Replied Freed. "Isn't that so Evergreen?" Freed looked up. "Evergreen?"

"Ha ha! No point Freed, she's got that stony stare of hers fixed on her beloved Elfman!" Screeched Bickslow.

SMACK! Evergreen backhanded Bickslow around the face "Shut up or I'll turn YOU into stone, go on run along and play with your silly little toys!"

"Hey they're not toys they are my babies. Isn't that right babies?" "Not toys not toys" chorused the dolls.

"So what do you have planned Laxus?" Freed asked. Laxus shrugged his shoulders and grunted. "Oh I see, I won't ask again."

"Whatever, I'm going for a piss" Said Laxus taking his leave.

"Wow Laxus is happy as ever." Said a voice behind Lucy. She spun round.

"Loki? What are you doing here?"

The celestial spirit shrugged. "I'm not sure, I had a feeling I should be. Don't worry I'm here on my own magic. Oh hey looks like Christmas already, hey Lucy lets find some mistletoe!"

At that point Erza walked past humming Christmas songs to herself carrying a piece of cake.

"Hey Erza!" Lucy called out desperately, so what are you doing for Christmas?!"

Natsu and Happy were back from posting their letters and were stood outside the guild house admiring the kid's snowman.

"Hey look, they did a great job!" Noted Happy

"Hmmm."

"What's wrong Natsu?"

"Nothing, I guess tomorrow I will have to make the biggest, bestest snow dragon tomorrow!" Natsu replied, getting excited.

"Aye sir! Natsu, who's that?" Happy pointed to the figure of a girl staggering in their general direction. Natsu and Happy rushed to help her.

"Are you ok?" Natsu asked.

"She's badly hurt but I can't carry her anymore" Said a small voice from behind the hurt girl. Natsu tried to find the voice. A pale yellow exceed walked out from behind the girl.

"Fairy tail" said the girl.

"That's where I'm going, I'll carry you."

"NO!" The girl gasped.

"She has to walk in herself, it's a promise she made to herself. I know it sounds weird but I'll explain later let's just get her out of the cold." Said the exceed. Natsu just simply nodded and escorted the pair to the guild house.


	2. Chapter 2 Th wounded Girl

_Ugh morons, why did I bother coming back?_ thought Laxus, washing his hands. He stopped and looked at his refection. A small voice in the back of his head was trying to get his attention_. How did I get to be such a moody bastard?_ He turned around to avoid his own gaze. _Don't go there Laxus, you know why. Remember the last time you felt positive about someone they disappeared. Don't think of her_. Laxus grunted to himself. Suddenly the guild house was silent, he went back into the main hall.

The doors of the guild house swung open, revealing Natsu, Happy, a yellow exceed in a pale blue dress and a bedraggled girl. Everyone froze and looked at this new arrival. Slowly she proceeded to where Makarov was sat. Each shaky footstep a chore to make. Her long blonde hair was a mess with the occasional twig jutting out. Her clothes torn, muddy and bloody. She approached Makarov, who hadn't even opened his eyes or acknowledged there was a new comer, she lent towards him and whispered.

"Im back"

Makarov's eyes flew open and took in the sight of this worn and torn young woman, before he could say anything her legs gave way. Laxus dashed and caught her just before she hit the ground. Barely breathing she glanced up at him and smiled. "Laxey, Laxey, Laxey. I've heard some stories about YOU, you've been a bit naughty haven't you?" With that and a smile, she lost consciousness .

"Come on boy, we have to get her to the infirmary!" exclaimed Makarov. For once Laxus didn't argue with his grandfather.

The girl was rushed to the infirmary leaving the yellow exceed in a strange place alone. Happy went up to her.

"Im Happy"

"Im not" she said clearly worried.

"No, Happy is my name" he smiled. By this point Charles and Lily had decided they should introduce themselves to the new exceed.

"Never mind him he's normally full of nonsense, or fish. Im Charles and this is PantherLily, Lily for short" Charles took the exceeds paws in her own. "You're freezing, Lily go and fetch a blanket for her please." Lily nodded and went to ask Mira for a blanket.

"I have this fish if you are hungry!" Offered Happy

"Don't be silly" Charles scolded "she doesn't want one of your silly fishes"

"Actually, I am rather hungry as long as it isn't one of those flying fish" She pulled a face.

"Here you go um.. whats your name?"

"Dart, thank you" Dart started to daintily eat the fish given to her, even though she desperately wanted to wolf it down. Lily returned with the blanket.

"Lily this is Dart" announced Charles. Lily nodded his acknowledgement of the name. Suddenly Dart stopped eating and started sniffing the air. She whispered something to herself and scanned the room. The scent had gone.

"I wonder who she is?" Lucy pondered out loud. After all everyone wondered who she was.

"She must be a dragon slayer" Grunted Gajeel. "Only dragon slayers have cats"

"You really think that she's another slayer?" asked Wendy.

Gajeel nodded. Wendy sat there in her own little world for a few minutes. "I wonder what kind of dragon slayer she is?"

Gajeel and Natsu both looked at Wendy, who seemed to shrink under their gaze. "Well you know Natsu your fire and Gajeel your iron and im…." Her voice faded afraid that she may have somehow insulted the much bigger dragon slayers.

"Shes got a point though" Said Gajeel.

"Lets ask the cat" said Natsu.

Dart had just finished her fish and was listening to her fellow exceeds explanation of where she was and who they were when Natsu and Gajeel appeared. Dart smiled at Natsu.

"Thank you for helping us." She said.

"Er its nothing tha-."

"Anyway cat, what we want to know is what type of magic your slayer has" Interrupted Gajeel.

"Slayer?" Dart repeated confused. Lily cleared his throat.

"If you will let me explain" He threw Gajeel a look "Dart, as you can see there are 3 exceed, Happy, Charles and myself. We are all companions to a type of mage called dragon slayers. Each dragon slayer has a specific magic type. Natsu is fire, Gajeel is iron and little Wendy uses wind magic. So what these two buffoons wish to know is what type of magic your slayer uses."

"You mean Esme?"

"The young lady taken to the infirmary? Yes"

"Esme isn't a dragon slayer"

"She's not? Then why are you with her?" Demanded Gajeel.

"She rescued me, took me in when I was injured and had nowhere to go. I don't even have any memories of before I met her. I hope she's ok I should go and check. She would be there for me."

"I'll escort you to the infirmary" Said Lily.

"Well it looks like flame breath and metal head didn't get the answers they wanted." Grinned Gray.

_One day Juvia will get what she wants. _Juvia thought.

"Well the girl seemed to know Laxus" Observed Erza.

The two dragon slayers returned from their enquiries. Gajeel sat down so hard on one end poor Levy almost went flying. Natsu sat down next to Lucy, he seemed deflated.

"Well shes not another dragon slayer so im no closer to finding out where Igneel is"

"Get some balls already pyro-pussy, me and Wendy are looking for dragons too but you don't see us moping like moody bitches!"

"Gajeel! Language!" Scolded Levy gesturing towards Wendy.

"What? Shes heard it all before."

"Hey, where's Loki?" asked Lucy. Everyone looked around.

"Loki was here?" said Natsu

"I'll go look for him, I need some air after all that cake." Erza left the table and went outside.

Meanwhile in the infirmary, Makarov and Laxus sat in stony silence outside the treatment room. Seeing the pain on his grandsons face Makarov broke the silence.

"I can't pretend to know what you are going through right now Laxus. Just remember you don't have to hide anything from me." With that tears poured down Laxus's face.

"This is all my fault Pops"

"No its not, how can it be?"

"It just is." Laxus sniffed and tried to compose himself. He was Laxus, he wasn't supposed to have emotional outbursts.

Just then Porlyusica came out. Her face was grim, although she could have just been reminding the two men of her disgust towards humans.

"Her wounds are not as bad as they seem. They should be relatively easy to heal. However she will never get to full health with a broken heart. Your presence is not needed or helping, all it is doing is clogging up my nose with your vile human odour. I suggest you leave."

The pair got up to leave just as Dart was entering.

"You must be with the girl, Dart is it? She's been mumbling nonsense in her sleep. Come."

Dart followed the healer to her friend while Makarov and Laxus showed themselves out.


	3. Chapter 3 Laxus's secret

Chapter 3 Laxus's secret.

Erza walked along the moonlit path, trying to get her thoughts together.

"Where is he?" She said aloud to herself. She had been searching for an hour but there was no sign of Loki. She sat down at the bank of the river and tried to collect her thoughts. Why was Loki here in the first place? Was it anything to do with the appearance of the strange girl? Who was she? What was her connection with Laxus? Why didn't I bring some cake with me? I wonder what I'll get for Christmas. "Shut up Erza!" she shouted at herself.

"I guess you're the only one who can tell you to shut up without being beaten to a pulp" Said a voice behind her. Erza spun round.

"Laxus? What are you doing here?"

"Got a lot to think about Erza."

"Is it about that girl? Who is she?"

Laxus sighed and sat down next to Erza.

"Well if im going to tell anyone it may as well be you Erza." His facial expression wasn't his usual grumpy frown, instead Erza noticed it was full of sadness and regret.

"Her name Is Esme. Its my fault she is hurt and there's nothing I can do about it." He looked at Erza. "Don't bother giving me sympathy and telling me otherwise, the old man tried that already."

"OK, so how is it your fault she is hurt?"

"Well it started when we were kids…"

FLASHBACK

A 13 year old Laxus, with a 10 year old Esme stood by the bank of the river.

"Come on Esme! Fight me!" Lightning flickered around Laxus's body.

"Laxey I told you im not fighting you, I don't want to!"

"Your just a wimp!"

"No I just don't want to fight."

"Yeah well if you don't fight you wont get strong. Come on fight me! Im going to be a Fairytail wizard you know!"

"So am I!"

"No your not you can't even fight!" With that Laxus threw a lightning bolt at Emse knocking her to the ground. "Pffft you wont even defend yourself!"

"I don't need to defend myself against you Laxey" Esme smiled.

FLASHFORWARD 3 YEARS

Laxus and Esme sat under the big tree.

"I don't get it, you still wont fight me? You have magic use it!"

"Laxey…"

"What?"

"Im going away for a while."

"Why?"

"Im going to the mountains to train."

"I thought you were going to stay and become a Fairytail wizard?"

"I am going to be a Fairytail wizard. Its just that I feel I need to go and train first"

"But!" Laxus stood up. "You can stay and train with me!" Esme looked up at Laxus and smiled.

"Laxey, Laxey, Laxey. All you have ever done is challenge me to fight and I have always refused. However I promise, when I come back we will have the fight you have always wanted." Laxus slumped back down onto the grass.

"How long are you going to be gone?"

Esme shrugged. "I don't know, but don't worry I will be back" She kissed Laxus on the head and walked off. Laxus watched her until she was out of sight and made his way back to the guild house.

In the guild house Macarov was sat at the bar watching the guild members up to their usual antictics, when he saw Laxus arrive.

"Hello boy! Wheres Esme?"

"She's gone"

"Already? Good luck to her, don't worry boy she will be back before you know it" The master smiled. "Whatever old man"

END FLASHBACK

"So you see" Continued Laxus. "I was the reason she left. I attacked her even when she refused to fight and she let me! What crazy person would just stand there and not even defend themselves? I MADE her leave and ive regreted it everyday since she left." Laxus started to tear up.

"I still don't under stand Laxus, I mean why would you even attack someone at that age if they didn't want to fight?"

"I was, I was" Laxus hung his head. "I was jealous of her." Erza gave him a quizzical look. "Look Erza, its no secret that the old man inserted a lacrima in me and that's the main source of my magic, without it I would be worse than nothing. Her magic was natural, she was stronger than me without fighting me and because of my jealousy she left and now look at her! If I wasn't such an asshole none of this would have happened and I wouldn't of had to spend so long without her close. I could have looked out for her but instead I bullied her and drove her away."

Realisation dawned on Erza. "You love her? After all this time you still do"

Laxus looked at Erza, sadness filled his eyes. "Of course I love her shes-"


	4. Chapter 4 Keeping Promises

Chapter 4

In the infirmary Dart stayed by Emse's side listening to her ramblings.

"You promised, where are you?" She had been repeating this for the last hour or so that Dart had been at her side.

"Esme please wake up!" Dart pleaded almost in tears. "I need you to wake up, come on remember what you promised me? We would come back and join Fairytail, we would have a family. Please Esme."

"It's no good cat" Said Porlyusica, "I told the humans there's nothing that can mend a broken heart, and because of that she isn't going to get through this. Not easily." With that she left the room.

Dart sighed. "Esme please hold on, I know the chances are next to nothing but he could come back?" Dart started sobbing into her friends chest, placing her paw on the hand Esme had holding something on a chain around her neck.

"How bad is she?"

"Really bad" sobbed Dart not even looking up. The realization kicked in. Dart looked up and gasped.

"Leo!" Dart flung herself around the celestial spirit's neck. "You're here! You're really here!" Dart spread her wings and started flying around Loki checking it was really him. He laughed

"Yes it's me. Now what's with Esme? What happened?"

Dart settled down, "well it happened about 7 years ago".

FLASHBACK 7 YEARS

In a forest a figure is walking followed by a flying cat.

"Im telling you Dart it's going to be great going home! We will become members of Fairytail it will be just like having a real family. If we keep going at this pace we will be there in about a day" Esme said with a skip in her step.

"I cant wait to meet everyone, you make them all sound so nice!" Chirped Dart.

Suddenly a figure stepped out from the bushes wearing a long dark cloak.

"Stop! These are my woods who dares to tread upon my territory?!" The voice in the cloak bellowed.

"Um Hi, Im Esme and this is Dart, we didn't mean to trespass. Its just that this is the quickest way home and we didn't know it was your forest, Im sorry. We will be out of here in about half a day if that's ok?"

"No!"

"Pardon?"

"No it is not OK you do not have permission. As punishment you will be sentenced!"

"Senten-" With that a huge BOOM sounded and Esme was turned to stone. The cloaked figure laughed. "7 years you will stay in your prison not a day sooner or shorter. Hopefully this will stop you trespassing in MY forest again!" With a wicked laugh the Figure was gone.

END FLASHBACK

"So I stayed with her, through wind, rain, sun, snow. I protected her for all that time. Sure enough 7 long years passed and the spell was dispelled. But…" Dart hung her head. "When she came too the spark had gone from her eyes. She knew you wouldn't be here after all you didn't have long to live."

"Things change." Loki muttered. "I was saved."

"Talk to her Leo? Please it may bring her around." Dart looked at Loki with pleading eyes. Loki leant towards Esme

"Hey sleepy head wake up!" He started poking her face with his finger. Saying the word "Tea" with every poke. Dart giggle. Esme stirred.

"Mmmm stop it!"

"Nope" Loki continued poking. Esme's eyes flew open. After they adjusted to the sight of Dart smiling right above her, she turned her head.

"Leo?!"

"Yes?"

"You're here? I thought you were dead."

"That's a long story." Loki Beamed. "Now lets get you back to perfect health."

"You kept your promise after all." Esme sighed. "Oh I kept mine too. I believe this is yours." She took the chain from around her neck and pulled a gold ring off it. On it was the Fairytail signet carved from a ruby.

"My ring!" Loki gasped as she handed it to him

"Short version." Esme said.

"What?"

"Why your alive."

Loki put the ring on his finger and took a deep breath, "Well after you left me to continue your training, I went down and joined Fairytail as you suggested…" Loki recalled to Esme what had happened and Lucy getting the celestial spirit king to change the rules.

"…So basicly Lucy saved me and now she is my master. A very good one too may I add."

"She sounds nice." Yawned Esme. "Im sorry. I would like to sleep now." Loki tucked the covers in around her and got up to leave.

"You coming Dart?" He whispered. "Give her some space." Dart nodded and followed her old friend back to the guild hall.


End file.
